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Ok, ok, as of the time of this writing, Family Member #5 has not yet officially joined us. But it could be any day now, and we’ve already made the space for them, so I’m gonna show you how we’re planning to fit three kids in a small room.

P.s. My kids insisted in being in their room (and in some of these pictures) as I was trying to take them. Because they’re kids. And it’s their room. So I let them, hey, if anything, they add a sense of realism to the pictures, right? 🙂

SleepingIkea KURA loft bed to the rescue! This is the same bed I used back when Kid #2 was still in his crib (see before pictures above). However, I moved it to a new corner of the room and put a toddler bed under it. I figure the toddler bed will fit my son until he’s 5ishor so, and if we’re actually still in this house when he outgrows it (eek; it is our sincerest hope that we’ll be able to buy a bigger place before then!) – I guess I’ll just do a twin mattress on the floor for him. Toddler bed is surprisingly NOT Ikea, but a local mom facebook buy/sell group find.

Note: There is a gap at the end of my daughter’s bed because the “stairs” to her bed use to be on that side (see before pic above). I could have taken the bed apart and adjusted this so the gap was now at the front and where she now climbs up. But ugh, for real? That is just way too much work for this pregnant mama to do! My daughter won’t fall out of the end in her sleep…(though she may purposely climb down this way!). It’s not as pretty this way, but I don’t care. It works. And I’m good with that. Lol.

Sleeping Storage
I found these green KROKIG storage bins, also at Ikea (hey, I’m practically a living Ikea ad, ok? And they don’t even pay me to advertise for them! Though maybe they should…lol. 🙂 ) for the kids to store their stuff in, like books, stuffed animals, and their night lights. They’re the perfect storage solution for the space. My kids are happy. I’m happy.

Stuffed Animal Storage
My kids love stuffed animals. Like they actually play with them on a regular basis. But they’re a pain in the butt to store. An Ikea FYLLEN laundry basket at the end of my son’s bed works super well to contain them.

Bed “Stairs”/Clothes Storage
Oh TROFAST, the best, most versatile of all Ikea kids storage systems. You get my daughter into her bed, you provide a privacy screen for my son’s bed, and you store clothes and sheets. And yes, you even give my kids something to jump off of and then get yelled at by their mom. Where would I be without thee?

Book/Toy/Clothes Shelves
Speaking of TROFAST, here’s some more shelves in the series! For the most part – and for space – I’ve taken all the toys out of the kids’ room. It’s for sleeping, dressing, or quietness only. So I’ve got some kids books here (more out in the living room bookcase), some empty shelves just waiting to be filled with crap, and some bins that will eventually end up holding Baby #3’s clothes.

Up top, I also store a few toys that are too big to fit in the “playroom” (aka, tiny sliver of space behind the couch I’ve banished all toys too 🙂 ), and some puzzles/games.

More Clothes Storage
Since I’ve got THREE kids now, I need space for THREE kids’ worth of clothes! In this (Ikea HENSVIK) dresser is my daughter’s clothes.

Rock a Bye Baby
This (Ikea POANG) chair just baaaarely fits into this space. Barely. I probably scratched the paint on both the crib and dresser squeezing it in. But it fits! And it’s gonna stay! At some point, I’m probably going to want to put a small basket underneath with some burp clothes or other late-night feeding/nursing supplies I want to have on hand…but I just haven’t gotten that far yet.

Baby CribRight now, the crib is baby stuff storage space, since the baby will be in our room for the first couple months. Eventually, I’ll move them in to the crib. Which will someday also turn into a toddler bed. Yes, we’ll have to move before this kid becomes too big for a toddler bed, but we’ve got a few years for that, so, deep breath….., we’ll cross all those bridges when we get to them. For now and for the near future? This works.

Window Curtains
Don’t you just LOVE the pattern on these curtains?? Since my whole house is practically Ikea and I wanted to feel unique in some way – I decided to buy fabric and make my own curtains. I went to my favorite online fabric store, Fabric.com, and fell in love with this kaleidoscope print. So I had to buy it! Of course I stupidly didn’t measure the windows, and since the fabric was a bit pricey, decided to lowball the yardage needed. And then I had to buy more. Needless to say – these curtains ended up being waaaay more work and time and effort to piece together than they should’ve been. But I still love them. 🙂

I tried just now to find the exact fabric pattern so I could link to it here, but I can’t seem to find it on Fabric.com anymore! 🙁 🙁 If you’re looking for it though, it’s called Richloom Cornwall Garden, and you may be able to find it elsewhere online.

Window BlindsOk, so these custom cordless window blinds by Windows & Garden bought off Amazon are the best. The best!! A bit more expensive than your regular blinds – and yes, we’re renting so either I eventually just have to donate them back to the house or reinstall the old ones if we move – but they are cordless and super easy to raise and lower. Since we had to put the baby’s crib right in the corner by the window, I’m so glad I found a safe, cordless, window blind option for this corner.

The Closet
What closet? That’s right. No closet here folks. We took off the door to the kids closet years ago. It once was what was supposed to a baby changing area (see before pic), but we never ended up changing my son on it, preferring instead to change his diaper on the floor, or couch, or bed, or table. Baby #2+, amIright? #whoneedsachangingtable?

Now we just store stuff in here. Like the laundry hamper. The diaper bin. Extra wipes and diapers. Blankets. Random stuff. And then I hung a curtain rod and some fabric and we can hide everything behind it and pretend it doesn’t exist when we don’t want to see it. And yes, that’s an Ikea HENSVIK bookcase/shelves in there. Gotta have more Ikea.

Other decorative things we did:
– We painted two walls a light, lively green. Why didn’t we pain ALL four walls? Simply because the bed was too big of a pain in the butt to move and we didn’t want to. No other reason, ha ha! Either way – even the two walls painted give the room a cleaner, more fun vibe.

– My mom gave me some embroidery frames that she had made when SHE was pregnant with ME! They happened to perfectly match the green-orange gender neutral color scheme we got going on, and so she brought them with her from Texas on a recent visit. I love them!

Whew. I think that’s everything in the kids’ room! Thanks for visiting and I hope you feel inspired and got some ideas how to make your own small space work!

I'm Ronni - mom to 3 under 8. My husband writes. Sometimes I do too. Here's your chance to get a behind the scenes look at what it takes to make our marriage, family, and sanity survive in this crazy entertainment world of ours.